Bomber into a tulip. Amber, almost reddish. The head is lasting and sticky, leaving plenty of lacing.

Lot of grapefruit on the nose. Smells sweet, too. Pretty solid hop character, and the malt isn't overbearing; more candied fruit than straight-up caramel. There's a slight orange quality to the hop bill, hints of pine, but it's largely grapefruit.

The palate has a nice candied grapefruit character, a little sugar cookie sweetness, a bit of caramel and pine. Alcohol is fairly noticeable, but not too harsh for a near-10% beer. I like the citrusy hop character, but there's a little too much sweetness and alcohol for this to compete with the top-tier of San Diego DIPAs. The finish is pleasantly bitter, neither abrasive nor astringent.

Enjoyable stuff, probably worth the $6, but I can't see myself revisiting it any time soon.

Poured into an imperial nonic a slight hazed beep amber/bronze with a nice one finger sticky crown atop,big doughy,sweetish malt aromas,the hops take a backseat to the big malt,almost barleywine in style to me.Hefty sweetness on the palate,caramel and biscuit malt with some alcohol zip to lend more sweetness,the hops are subdued to me providing a little citric shot.Another sweet bomb of a DIPA,I would say this is even sweeter than most I have had.

Appearance: Pours a clear, golden-orange body with a tall, off-white head depositing scattershot lace blots on the descent.

Smell: Pale malts with some sweet-scented sugar-encrusted hints to it beneath the resinous hops scented of orange and a bit of lemon.

Taste: Sweetish, sugary elements from the cookie-hinting, pale maltiness. Flutter of apricot fruitiness, then a hearty dose of citrus followed by a bit of resinous pine. Moderate bitterness. Dry, bitter, citrus-accented finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation.

Overall: It's decent enough, but doesn't really embody a truly magical, memorable experience. I mean, I did drink it, sure, but hold a bottle in front of me a year from now and I'll probably say "who??"

22oz bottle. A curiously ironic name for a brewery located so close to a naval shipyard.

This beer pours a clear, medium golden amber hue, with three fingers of densely puffy, somewhat frothy off-white head, which leaves a decently complete band of sky forest lace around the glass as it evenly loses seaworthiness.

It smells of bitter grapefruit flesh, orange cream, lemon pudding, nutty caramel malt, a hint of toffee, pine resin, and a musty herbaceous character that borders on that particular skunky leaf so popular with the kids. You know - hops? The taste is more fruity tartness up front, a sort of pleasantly muddled grapefruit, orange, melon, and lemon-lime, over a somewhat complex nutty, beady caramel maltiness, a mild indistinct spiciness, and a subtle booze edginess.

The carbonation is active, in a neighbourhood watch sort of way, the body medium-heavy in weight, and generally quite smooth, just a wee pique from those imperious hop and booze scoundrels. It finishes on the sweet side, kind of unexpectedly, as the malt holds its position, and the fruity hops shed a portion of their bitterness.

A tasty enough DIPA, the alcohol better integrated than I had been led to believe, but still duly present, like you would expect it to be, right along with the hop and malt overdoses. Not all that hop forward, but that's just when comparing it to its SoCal brethren, and isn't that bad of a thing overall. Indeed worthy of a try, for all we humulus maximus meatheads out there.

Mission's Shipwrecked Double IPA pours a surprisingly hazy, almost cloudy, deep-amber orange body beneath a frothy head of off-white. (Perhaps I simply didn't allow the bottle to sit undisturbed for long enough). The head retention is quite good, and it leaves excellent lacing about the glass.

In the mouth it's medium-full and decidedly dextrinous, delivering a creamy-smooth pass across the palate with just a gentle caress from the median carbonation level.

The flavor is as the aroma suggests it will be, but with a backing of solid hop bitterness to keep it in balance. It starts with an almost doughy sweet malt that glistens with drizzled golden caramel; adds to that a delicate bit of yeasty fruitiness; and then dives straight into a hay bail of grassy, leafy, citrusy and floral hop flavors featuring orange, apricot, papaya and a bit of rose. The bitterness rises late mid-palate, and the alcohol adds a flash of peppery spiciness. In the finish the malt sweetness and bitterness slowly fade and rise respectively, eventually balancing amidst lingering notes of malt and hop flavor.

I appreciate that Mission has avoided going for a big juicy hop bomb loaded with all of the raspy edges that citrusy hops can deliver. And they've also stayed away from the pine cone hand grenade! There's a bit of citrus and pine to it, but I find more apricot, papaya, and Fruit Loops than I do pineapple and grapefruit, and I think that gives them a little bit of uniqueness amidst the crowd. And it certainly lends to drinkability. It's a big beer, no doubt, but it doesn't really show beyond the malt and mouthfeel. The alcohol is well cloaked for the most part, and the maltiness balances it superbly. Well rounded. Well hopped. Worth seeking out!

T: The taste starts out sweet with flavors of citrus and caramel followed by a strong hops bitterness. The malt character is hearty but not too heavy and brings a decent balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet and slightly hoppy.

On tap @ The Toronado (San Diego, CA) on 3/22/10. Served in a pint glass.

Pours a clear copper, with a thin covering of bright-white creamy head. There's a moderate richness to the retention and lacing. Decent little look here. The aroma has some hops going on with it, with some floral notes, pine, and some light pine. However this very sweet overall in the nose, with a muddled mix of sticky fruit and malts. Very sweet here...

The taste is the same, with a LOT of deep sweetness to it from tropical fruits and bready caramel character. The hops only really come out in the back, with pine, spice, and a bit of an off-putting earthy grittiness in the finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a nice firm mouth-filling creaminess to the carbonation. To it's credit, this really isn't showing much alcohol and the feel here is probably the best part of the beer.

Just way too much sweetness here for a DIPA, with more hops needed at the forefront of the profile. I've had a couple of different beers now from Mission and this wasn't one of the better ones.

On at Mad Mex during happy hora, so it didn't kill my pocket book. Drinks nice, just super malty for a DIPA. Definitely not your typical West Coast DIPA. Which actually worked for this beer, usually I like the West Coast DIPA to take the enamel off of my teeth with hops but in this case. I'm alright with a deep orange russet body pouring with a thick beige head, fine even layer lacing. Nose is full of citrus/floral notes very nice expressive finishing hops here. Starts out agressive with citrus/floral notes but as the malts surround the hops the flavor fades into a well balanced high alcohol IPA. Drank pretty effortlessly, was I expecting more hop bitterness and flavor of course, but I wasn't disappointed by it. Mouthfeel is full to medium bodied with a nice flowing carbonation going strong. Overall experience less hops than expected from a West Coast DIPA but it didn't harm the overall enjoyment level this beer had to offer.

A middle of the road mediore dipa, at best. Too many malts and no real hop influence. A nice drinking experience, but as far as all the characteristics I would hope for the style: not much there. I could do without it, as you can see by the numbers on this one.

Pours a lighter fizzy 1/2 finger head that sticks around a bit at least, nice layered lacing, over mostly clear nectar orange with a slight reddish hue.

Nose has some bittering hops, plenty of malts, sweet malts with some caramel and bready toasty reddish malts. The hops bring some candied like aromas, with light candy orange and earthy syrupy almost hop extract like, and hints of candied tangerine and clementine.

Taste comes sweet, quite sweet actually, lots of malts that just bombard the taste with sweetness and even some syrupy flavors, a bit of a maple like flavor as well that comes with the reddish malts, caramel, toffee, and nougat. Sweetness tries to balance the booze but doesn't quite go far enough, or in thsi case I think too far that the booze comes out the other end... uhhh didn't mean it that way... but the booze still comes out with a warmth and little tingle. The hops are mostly bittering, fairly bitter but not enough to balance the malty sweetness, light candied tangerine and slight clementine like citrus, earthy hops, but not much of any of the flavors, mostly just bittering that even somehow gets a bit astringent. The finish is still fairly syrupy and sweet, it tries to dry but just can't, with a big astringent bitter bite that doesn't want to go away, even with the sweet malty mess, just a bit of booze on the finish as well.

Overall not very good, a mess of a beer, way too overboard on the malts, sweetness, and booze, but still somehow finds a way to get too bitter and astringent, and the hops don't add much except the bitterness. Quite undrinkable.

In a sea of big, ugly DIPAs, this once seems suave and debonaire. Sensationally aromatic hop flavors with a large malty taste. Not overly bitter, however, for all the hoppy fireworks. Fills the mouth nicely. So full of malt, but very spicy. Some bitter orange flavor, but not the grapefruit pith. Alcohol provides some heat, but on the whole it is very well balanced.

One of the better big IPAs I've had. I think Mission has a more drinkable approach to their use of hops, which I like. On tap at Mitch's Seafood, San Diego.

Poured from a 22 ounce bottle into a wheat beer glass. Beer is brown and hazy, forms a big off white head that leaves some lacing on the glass. Carbonation is low. Looks OK.

Malty almost hoppy aroma, not too appetizing for a DIPA.

Well its easy drinking for such a big beer but the bitterness is at best weak. Its not very sweet up front, its a smooth creamy mouthfeel but this is pretty disappointing. Come on Cali, can't you make a good IPA...oh wait...nevermind.

Sampled on tap at 1702, Tucson; August 2011The beer arrives with a half-finger thick, quite pale tan colored head. The beer is a dark copper / amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, full copper hue when held up to the light. The nose has a pungent, clean, bright tropical fruitiness to it that reminds me of lychee, juicy fruit gum, perfectly ripe tangelo zest and very floral apricot as well as just a bright sort of tropical fruitiness (kumquat perhaps). After my nose gets used to the dominant hop character I am able to notice a supporting malt character that contributes subtle aromas of whole grain crackers and perhaps a hint of biscuit. Also a touch of pine and more herbal hop notes are noticeable just underneath the fruit hop notes.

This has a touch of fullness to the body as well as a malt character that also provides a supporting role for the dominant hop flavors; overall though it is quite drinkable like anything called an IPA should be. Again a huge tropical fruit character is found here in the flavor with lots of lychee and ripe kumquat zest coming through in the first sip. There is a firm, slightly herbaceous bitterness that lingers in the finish. The bitterness is actually noticeable from the beginning and adds a bit of a bite throughout, there is also a light herbaceous astringency to the hop character (it isn’t nearly so prevelant as the smooth hop fruitiness) that also contributes some sharpness and bit to help counterbalance the ϋber-fruit quality that defines this beer. The fruitiness can almost have a Christmas like spiciness to it at times (likely more orange zest than anything, but I can’t help but think of cinnamon for some reason).

This is a nice Double IPA, it is quite clean (meaning it doesn’t really have a rough, dank herbal quality to it), which, for me can be quite enjoyable and even ideal, depending on what I am in the mood for.